Global Positioning System http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS

old notes

to define position for GeoTag entries

http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/ map generator

May'2008: recommendation for Garmin Nuvi

Fall'2007 I bought an Evesham Nav Cam 7700. Cheap but definitely not great.

rent http://www.lowergear.com/product.php?id=240

• don't buy the Road Mate 300, buy the 360; but for a rental the 300 sounds fine since he pre-loads it for you

recommendations: http://gpsinformation.us/main/gpsauto.htm

• cheaper decent units run $300 at least, most cost a lot more than that

might consider buying a receiver for my Sharp Zaurus

• or maybe just a generic CF-card receiver

• but dealing with software for loading maps, getting something I can run on MacOs X and then connect to my Zaurus, ack who needs the nightmare

  • or maybe it's not that bad...

Some of the fancier units integrate current-StreetTraffic data, which seems pretty cool. It's certainly frustrating sitting through jams on the New Jersey Turnpike. On the other hand, it seems unlikely that there's an alternative path, so the data might not be Actionable. (On the other hand, knowing whether the Holland Tunnel will be faster than the Lincoln Tunnel would be nice, though you should just be able to get that accurately from the radio - but I've had mixed success with that, in cases where traffic wasn't bad right around the Holland Tunnel, but there was construction on a 1-lane access road that ran for miles...)

Product Review based on renting the Magellan Road Mate 300 for a trip from NYC to Washington DC and Williamsburg Va in 2007

The voice alerts are rather vague when you're dealing with complex intersections or highways with 2 exit ramps really close to each other ("stay to the left..." is what it says rather than "take this exit 45B for I-95-South"). If you watch the screen it can help, but placing the small LCD so that it's equally readable by both driver and passenger/navigator, especially in daylight, is a challenge. And the driver probably shouldn't be watching the LCD at those particular moments.

The interface is confusing for changing modes, e.g. I just changed my mind about where I'm going so I want to get back to the Address Book to pick a new destination. There doesn't seem to a Home in the GUI that you can get to.